Every youth should learn to do something finely and thoroughly with his hands.—Ruskin.
THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF VEGETALISM.
This article has been translated from the French of Prof. H. Labbé, the head of the laboratoire à la Faculté de Médecine, in Paris. It reflects a rather characteristic aloofness to any considerations other than scientific or economic. But it will well repay careful study.—[Eds.]
I
Vegetarianism has been the object of many attacks, and has also been warmly defended. Most of its adepts have sought to give the value of a dogma to its practice.
For quite a number of people “vegetarianism” is a kind of religion, requiring of its votaries a sort of baptism, and the sacrifice of many pleasures. It is this which justifies the infatuation of some, and the systematic disparagement of others.
“Vegetalism”[12] cannot pretend to play a similar part, or to lend itself to ambiguity. To be a “vegetalist” is to choose in the vegetable kingdom, with a justified preference, foods susceptible of filling the energy-producing needs, and the needs of the reparation of the human system.
“Vegetalism” is a chapter of dietetic physiology which must utilise the precise methods and recent discoveries of the science of nutrition.
[12] The word “Vegetarianism” implies a judgment of the qualities which such a diet entails. This word is derived, in fact, from the Latin adjective “Vegetus” (strong). The word “Vegetalism,” which we oppose to the preceding one, admits only the establishing of a fact, that of the choice—exclusive or preferred—of the nutritious matters in the vegetable kingdom.